1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system in which an image processing apparatus and an information processing apparatus are interconnected via a network; an image processing method implemented by this image processing system; an image processing apparatus and an information processing apparatus preferably employed in this image processing system; and a computer readable recording medium having an image processing program recorded therein to make a computer execute processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
Some of the recent image processing apparatuses have a function to temporarily record a print job or a facsimile job in a recording medium, for example a hard disk drive or etc. and then perform print outputting at a user's desired timing, as well as a function to perform print outputting as soon as receiving such a job from an information processing apparatus, for example a personal computer or etc.
Furthermore, there is a well known image processing apparatus that is capable of recording a received job in a segmented memory area called as a “Box”. As for Box types, there are so-called “private Boxes” protected by a password or etc. so as to permit accesses only from specific users or groups, so-called “public Boxes” not limiting any accesses, and other types of Boxes.
Regarding such Boxes, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. H11-196206, there is a technology including a process of sorting out received facsimile information pieces, which is a facsimile apparatus that sorts out received facsimile information pieces in Boxes that are memory areas segmented for destination addresses detected from the facsimile information pieces.
Meanwhile, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. H11-239238, there is the following facsimile apparatus. Receiving a confidential document, the facsimile apparatus stores the confidential document in a personal Box that is a memory area exclusively provided for a receiver user to which the confidential document is addressed, and also registers a storage location of the confidential document into a Web server inside thereof. After that, the facsimile apparatus transmits an e-mail to the receiver user to notify of the receipt of the confidential document. Receiving this e-mail, the receiver user accesses the facsimile apparatus and enters an ID and a password by operating the personal computer. Then, the facsimile apparatus transmits to the receiver user, linkage information to access the confidential document, and thus the receiver user is allowed to access the confidential document by using this information.
However, even if such an apparatus stores in Boxes, jobs that are received from an information processing apparatus by using the Box function as described above, it is still a problem that the user tends to forget which job is stored in which Box due to passage of time, and thus the jobs in the Boxes cannot be reused efficiently.
In this case, some users transmit a job to the image processing apparatus again by operating their own information processing apparatuses, in order to make it execute the job, even knowing that the job already exists in either of the Boxes. This is not an efficient manner.
Furthermore, users sometimes would like to check in which folder of which information processing apparatus base data of data included in a job exists, for example for the purpose of editing the base data stored in a Box of an image processing apparatus, but conventionally, this demand cannot be satisfied. This is also a problem.
The technologies described in the two above-mentioned publications do not provide a complete solution against those problems.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, certain features of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages, while still retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.